Local Purchasing Just Got Easier

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Dec. 13, 2013) - A new resource guide from the Columbia Institute, LOCO BC, and ISIS Research Centre at the UBC Sauder School of Business, offers innovative tools for economic development. Buying Local: Tools for Forward Thinking Institutions details specific policies and practices for economic development through local purchasing.

"Institutional purchasing is often an underused economic development tool. Public bodies such as Municipalities, School Boards, Heath Authorities and Crown Corporations, as well as private corporations, can grow local economies in a very meaningful way when they use their purchasing power locally," says Columbia Institute Executive Director, Charley Beresford.

Earlier this year, the three organizations released a study detailing the economic impact of local purchasing - the first study of its kind in Canada. Using office supply procurement in B.C. as an example, the study measured a 77%-100% economic advantage for B.C. from buying local, and an 80%-100% increase in jobs per million dollars spent. That study, The Power of Purchasing showed the value that local companies have to the economy through the lens of office supplies. Now Buying Local provides some tools for institutions to harness that benefit and become economic change agents.

"We've been encouraging businesses and consumers to buy local for years," says Amy Robinson, Founder of LOCO BC, a non-profit organization that promotes, connects and supports local businesses while advocating for increased local purchasing. "Now the challenge is to support institutions in making the switch."

"When purchasing dollars are re-circulated in the local economy they create jobs and build local business. It is a straightforward and effective way of growing local economies while supporting our communities," says Chris Kantowicz, Director of Strategy at the ISIS Research Centre, part of UBC's Sauder School of Business.

To download the resource guide, visit: civicgovernance.ca/publications/buying-local.